Methods of making slip-lasted shoes



June 5, 1956 A. s. CLARK 2,748,405

METHODS OF MAKING SLIP-LASTED SHOES Original Filed Jan. 9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor A. 5. CLARK METHODS OF MAKING SLIP-LASTED SHOES June 5, 1956 Original Filed Jan. 9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 2,248,405 METHODS on MAKING SLlP-LASTED snous Alfred S. Clark, Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey Original application January 9, 1952, Serial No. 265,660. Divided and this application December 29, 1953, Serial No. 400,966

3 Claims. c1. 12-142 trated in my application for Letters Patent of the United .States Serial No. 265,660, filed January 9, 1952, is well adapted, the present application being a division thereof.

In the present method, a thin flexible sock lining is attached to the inner surface of a platform sole, and one side of the vamp of an upper is secured to the sock lining only from the toe toward the shank. When the shank is reached the lower edge of a wrapper strip of variable width and curvature is introduced into the seam and the seam uniting the upper, sock lining and wrapper strip is =continued entirely around the shoe including the portion stitched before introducing the wrapper strip.

The method further includes securing a layer of thin flexible material to the inner surface of a platform sole --with the marginal portions of said layer and the sole in substantial register, rabbeting the marginal portion of the platform sole below the layer of flexible material, thus providing a rabbeted platform sole with a layer of thin flexible material thereon with the edge of the flexible material overlying the rabbet, then securing the edge of one side of the vamp of an upper to the portion of flexible material overlying the rabbet by a seam of stitches passing through the flexible material without penetrating the platform sole, applying one end of a wrapper strip of variable width and curvature to the upper when the shank is reached with one edge of the strip in register with the upper, and continuing the seam along the edges of the parts from the shank entirely around the sole and across the end of the wrapper strip first applied to the shoe at the shank, the final stitches in the seam being located transversely of the seam and inside the stitches inserted before the wrapper strip was applied.

These and other aspects of the method will appear more fully from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a plan view of shoe parts to be sewed together by the practice of the present method;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of a platform sole with a sock lining attached thereto and to which one side of the vamp of an upper has been sewed;

Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 2 after a portion of the edge of a wrapper strip has been included in the seam at the shank portion of the shoe;

Fig. 4 is a side view of a shoe after the entire wrapper strip and upper have been sewed to the sock lining along the platform sole; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line V-V of Fig. 4.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the upper operated 2,748,405 Patented June 5, 1956 'ice upon comprises a semi-rigid platform sole 10 cut from a quarter inch layer of granulated cork composition and a sock lining 12 of'flexible cotton drill material attached to the upper surface of the platform sole with its edges in register with those of the sole, an upper 14 and a wrapper strip having a toe part 16 and a heel part 18, all to be connected with stitches of a seam extending about the edges of the parts and intersecting them with the exception of the platform sole. The toe part 16 is straight but the heel part 18 is of variable width and curvature to conform with a high heel of a high-arch shoe. The platform sole directly beneath the sock lining is formed with a groove or rabbet 20 (Fig. 5) into which the seam allowances of the parts along their edges are folded when the wrapper strip is lasted about the platform sole, the rigidity of the platform sole along its edges insuring proper outline configuration of the shoe during insertion of the connecting seam. The improvement in outline configuration of the shoe obtained by use of a semi-rigid platform sole, however, raises further problems if an attempt is made to construct a style of shoes having high heels. The rigidity of the sole which insures the improved outline resists the flexure essential to bringing the edges of the attached sock lining readily into register with the edges of the upper. Since the resistance to flexure of a sole is met during the sewing operation, sufficient force must be applied to the parts in advance of and at the sewing point to offset this resistance.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the right side of the vamp portion of the upper 14 first is secured to the flexible edge of the sock lining 12 overlying the rabbet 20 of the platform sole by a seam 22 while presenting the diiferently curved edges of the parts in register, starting at the toe, as indicated by the arrow 24 in Fig. 1. The sewing operation is interrupted when the shank of the shoe is reached, the parts at this time being slightly distorted from their flat blank shape (Fig. 2). The upper, being the more flexible part, is caused to project upwardly from the platform sole with practically no distortion of the sole itself. At the forward part of the shank one end of the heel part 18 of the variable width wrapper strip is applied to the upper starting at the head of the arrow 26 in Fig. 1.

To assist in locating the parts, the sock lining is formed with several pairs of projections or other marks 28, 30, 32, 34, one of a pair at each side of the shoe. The projection 28 indicates the proper position for two points 36 at the toe end of the upper. The projection 30 indicates the stopping position for the forepart sewing operation so that the wrapper strip may be applied. The projection 32 indicates the proper position for applying the heel part of the wrapper strip, and the projections 34 the location of the heel end of the vamp. After the heel part 18 is applied to the shoe upper, a seam 38 is continued from the seam 22 along the edges of the registering parts from the shank entirely around the shoe including the side first stitched. As soon as the heel end of the platform sole is reached, a substantial lengthwise curvature must be imparted to the sole to bring it into the shape of Fig. 3. In bending the sole into the curved shape of Fig. 3, substantial resistance is met in flexing the parts at the sewing point. Suflicient force must accordingly be applied manually to the shoe parts to overcome this flexing resistance. In applying the flexing force to the parts tension is imparted to those portions of the seam already inserted, particularly about the point of sewing operations, so that unless a secure grip is maintained on all three parts by the operator the edges will be displaced, causing irregularities in the form of the completed shoe. As appears in Fig. 4, the completely sewed shoe has a still greater curvature along the bottom surface of its platform sole than the uncompleted shoe of Fig. 3, the curvature being the result of stress set up in the parts during insertion of the stitches as a result of bringing the differently curved edges of the parts into register.

As will be noted in connection with Fig. 1, the toe part 16 of the illustrated cover strip is relatively straight and of a uniform width but the heel part 18 increases rapidly in width from one end toward its center portion and is of reduced width toward its other end. The curvature of the heel part also is abrupt so that a substantial widthwise force must be applied to the heel part to bring its edge in register with those of the upper and sock lining of the shoe. To facilitate presenting the toe part 16 to the sew ing point, it is attached temporarily to the heel part 18 by a short seam 40 extending close to the edge of the strip parts to be sewed to the shoe. Accordingly, when the heel part 18 of the wrapper strip is fed first into the machine the toe part 16 is carried along forward into the sewing point by the attaching seam 40.

If the temporary strip attaching seam 4t} and the different permanent seams 22 and 38 connecting the strip with the other shoe parts are all inserted with the same margin there is likelihood that the later inserted seams may damage the earlier ones 22 or 40. Also, if the earlier inserted seams 22, 40 have a wider margin on the edge of the parts than the later inserted seam 38, then the earlier inserted seams will be exposed and present an unsightly appearance when the wrapper strip is carried about the edge of the sole in lasted relation thereto. To prevent threads of the earlier inserted seams 22 and 40 from being exposed to view after the wrapper strip is lasted over the platform sole or damaged by the later inserted seam 38, the temporary attaching seam 40 is inserted in the Wrapper strip parts with a margin less than that provided along the final seam 38 which connects the wrapper strip permanently to the other shoe parts. For the same reason the seam 22 connecting the upper to the sock lining along the right forepart of the shoe is inserted with a margin less than that provided along the final seam 38 connecting the wrapper strip to the other shoe parts (see Fig. 5 In this way the final seam 38 connecting the wrapper strip is formed inside the other seams so that when the wrapper strip is lasted over the edge of the platform sole the other seams are hidden from view within the rabbet of the platform sole.

Therefore, as soon as the shank of the shoe being sewn is reached and the wrapper strip is led into the seam, the sole is moved by the operator farther into the machine so that when the shoe is completely sewed the final seam connecting the upper and sock lining will lie a corresponding distance inside any other seam connecting the other shoe parts.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in methods of making high arch 4 platform shoes which consists in providing a platform sole with a layer of thin flexible material secured to the inner surface thereof with the edge portion of said material free from the sole, securing one side of the forepart of the vamp of an upper and the free edge portion of the flexible material only together by a seam of stitches passing through the edge of the vamp and the edge of the flexible material without penetrating the platform sole, applying one end of a wrapper strip of variable width and curvature to the upper when the shank of the shoe is reached with one edge of the strip in register with the edge of the upper, and continuing the seam along the edges of the parts from the shank entirely around the sole and across the end of the wrapper strip first applied to the shoe at the shank.

2. That improvement in methods of making high arch platform shoes which consists in providing a rabbeted platform sole With a layer of thin flexible material secured to the inner surface thereof with the edge portion of said material overlying the rabbet, securing one side of the forepart of the vamp of an upper and the edge portion of the flexible material overlying the rabbet only together by a seam of stitches passing through the vamp and the edge of the flexible material without penetrating the platform sole, applying a forepart and heel wrapper strip of variable width and curvature to the upper when the shank of the shoe is reached with one edge of the strip in register with the edge of the flexible material, and

continuing the seam along the edges of the parts from the shank entirely around the shoe and across the end of the heel strip first applied to the shoe at the shank, the final stitches in the seam at one side of the forepart being located transversely of and inside of the seam first inserted before the wrapper strip was applied.

3. That improvement in methods of making slip-lasted platform shoes which consists in providing a platform sole having a thin flexible sock lining secured to the inner surface thereof, sewing one side of a vamp to the edge of the sock lining at the forepart only, introducing when the shank is reached one end of a combined heel cover and platform cover into the seam, and continuing the seam uniting the cover, upper and the edge of the sock lining from the shank entirely around the shoe including the side first stitched.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,425,420 Chandler Aug. 25, 1945 2,436,050 Miner Feb. 17, 1948 2,440,362 Braun Apr. 27, 1948 2,492,782 Caltabiano et al. Dec. 27, 1949 2,546,152 Chandler Mar. 27, 1951 2,569,184 Longini Sept. 25, 1951 

